The National Petroleum Authority is cautioning the public against keeping cylinders indoors, saying, it is extremely dangerous to do that.

According to the NPA, the naked eye cannot see gas in case of leakage, hence the need to keep cylinders outside to avert fire outbreak.

A member of the NPA Governing Board and Chairman of the Consumer Services sub-committee, Kwami Sefa Kayi, who made the call at an LPG awareness and sensitisation lecture at the Takoradi Technical University, noted that some people did not want to keep their cylinders outside because of the fear that they would be stolen.

"If you have cylinders in any enclosed place, go and bring them out. Don't complain that it will be stolen", he urged.

Mr. Sefa Kayi, who is a veteran broadcaster, gave the assurance that  the NPA would do everything to ensure the price of LPG remains competitive and "soft on consumers."

The lecture organised by the Corporate Affairs and Gas Directorates of the Authority was on the theme: "Safe Use of LPG Protects Lives and Property."

The sensitisation exercise on the safe use of LPG and the general operations of NPA  involved one-on-one engagements with traders and lectures in educational institutions in the Western and Central regions.

Other institutions visited included the Sekondi Nursing and Midwifery Training College and the Cape Coast Nursing and Midwifery Training College.

Answering a question on NPA's complaint procedure, the Consumer Services Manager, Eunice Budu Nyarko, urged the public to immediately report  fuel stations suspected of cheating to the Authority.

She said when complaints are made within 48 hours of purchase of fuel, prompt investigations are conducted to establish the facts before the product is sold out.

"Consumers should report within 48 hours. If we delay, we may risk the loss of evidence. Consumers should report  and then we can act immediately," she said.

However, Mrs. Budu Nyarko said consumers could still report after 48 hours of the purchase of the fuel.

"We will still investigate but that product you bought might have been sold out. So what the NPA does is to keep the station under surveillance, meaning the Authority’s inspectors will be visiting there unannounced  for sometime.

"The NPA will always protect the interest of stakeholders, consumers and petroleum service providers", she stressed, and announced the customer lines.

In his presentation, Assistant Divisional Fire Officer, David Essuman, cautioned the public against placing stones and heavy materials on valves to supposedly prevent leakage.

He said the heavy materials could not stop the leakage, and indicated that the best thing was for the people to replace the faulty valves.

Welcoming the lecturers and students on behalf of the NPA Chief Executive, Dr. Mustapha Abdul-Hamid, the Communications Manager of NPA, Mohammed Abdul-Kudus, noted that Europeans and Americans depended solely on gas for their domestic activities but they hardly recorded fires.

Therefore, he said, if gas users in Ghana observed the safety tips, they could reduce gas-related fire outbreaks.